COLOMBO, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The number of deaths from dengue fever in Sri
Lanka has crossed the 100 mark since January this year, health officials said
here Saturday.

"We have already seen 108 deaths with over 7,000 cases of dengue fever,"
Paba Palihawadana, a top official from the Ministry of Health told reporters.

The rise in the level of the epidemic has forced the health authorities to
carry out extensive public awareness campaign to eradicate the mosquito based
epidemic.

Households have been warned to keep the environment free of mosquitoes.
Those who allow the mosquitoes to breed by allowing stagnating water face
prosecution with a special hotline being made available for public information.

A few prosecutions of people who had not paid heed to preventive measures
have already taken place, heath officials said.

The World Health Organization said some 2.5 billion people, two fifths of
the world's population, are now at risk from dengue and estimated that there may
be 50 million cases of dengue infection worldwide every year.